


don’t lose your fight, kid

by smads



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Brief Mentions of Character Death, Follows canon until it doesnt, M/M, Taejoon needs a fkn hug, and afterward, i did warn y’all that I’m an angst goblin, i took liberties with dialogue SUE ME, it is my modus operandi, p a i n, set during “Shattered Spirit”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:14:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25154536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smads/pseuds/smads
Summary: Tae had been falsely accused once. He wasn’t prepared for it to happen again.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Mirage | Elliott Witt
Comments: 3
Kudos: 69





	don’t lose your fight, kid

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on my phone so forgive stupid typos. I love these two dorks with my whole heart so yeah.

Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck.   
  


“You think I’m spying for Revenant?” He intended to sound incredulous, angry would’ve been sufficient as well, but instead, he sounded sad. Small.   
  


“Who else knows how to hack your drone?”

His gut twisted. He wanted to throw up. The last time _anyone_ had hacked _anything_ of his, Mila went missing. And he was blamed for her death. What kind of twisted deja vu was this?

”I don’t know. I didn’t think there was a way to hack into Hack, but...there might be.” His voice sounded shakier with every syllable. He was afraid they could see right through him.   
  


Octavio scoffed, “you named an unhackable drone _Hack_?”

He squeezed his eyes closed. On any other day, he’d probably threaten Octavio in Korean, but he didn’t need any more enemies than he currently had. He shifted his gaze to Nat. Sweet Nat. She looked on the verge of tears. Betrayal was not something she was familiar with, even if it was false betrayal.   
  


“Natalie, please, I’m not an idiot. You know I wouldn’t make it so obvious.” At this point, he was pleading with her—with anybody—to believe him.   
  


She bit her lip, and for a second, he thought she might be on his side.   
  


“How convenient,” Alexander’s voice droned, “Brilliant, even. Oldest trick in the book: make it so obvious that you’re being framed so nobody suspects you’re being framed.”

The tension in the room was palpable. He thought he might be sick right there. Natalie looked like she’d seen a ghost. She was the closest friend he’d made here. She was nearly as compatible an intellectual match as Mila and just being around her was nostalgic.   
  


A portal opened, and Elliot, Path, and Wraith poured out, carrying the IDCOMS. Elliott seemed to be making some sort of joke with Pathfinder, until he wasn’t.   
  


“What the hell happened in here? It’s like, super tense...” He looked between Natalie, Tae Joon, and Anita, searching for any trace of calm. The edge of Tae’s mouth twitched when Elliott’s eyes met his, concern pooling in his honey-brown eyes.   
  
  


“Crypto was about ready to tell us why the fuck he’s been spying on us for Revenant.” Anita clenched her jaw and pushed off from the wall she’d been leaning on and paced toward Tae Joon.

Elliott raised his eyebrows and laughed nervously, “you think he’s a spy? Come on, ‘Nita, he’s many things, but he’s not a rat.”

They could hear a pin drop.

”...Right?” The addendum was barely audible. Tae’s eyes wandered back to Elliott’s. They didn’t even get along that well. He was pretty sure Elliott hated him, and he didn’t mind. The less friends he made, the better. 

”Why are you defending him, Witt? Didn’t know you two were so buddy-buddy.” Anita sneered.   
  


“We aren’t. But he’s just a twenty-something pain in our ass, not a villain—“

”Thirty-one.” Nat’s small voice interrupted.

”Hold up,” Mirage gestured with his hands, “you call _me_ old man? You’re older than me, kid!”

Elliott, ever the jokester. Tae Joon wondered how much of that was a facade. The vein in Elliott’s neck that pulsed during a particularly tough match—when he was scared— was throbbing. He cleared his throat to try to hide it.  
  


”That’s not important right now,” Anita moved even closer to Tae Joon. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. He could feel his heart rate quicken. He had only had a handful of anxiety attacks in his life, and he dug his nails into his fisted palm to prevent hyperventilation.

”Think about it. What would I gain from helping him?” Tae’s throat burned.

”The Syndicate.” Alexander offered. Tae Joon was sure he was going to throw up. He turned towards the doctor.

”Please, Caustic, not now—“

”You want revenge on them for,” Tae cringed lightly as Alexander continued on, “your own personal reasons. Revenant wants to get back at his former employers. It’s common sense, really.”

Tae Joon sighed, relieved. Nobody here knew why he wanted revenge on the Syndicate. Not even Natalie. He had no idea how Alexander found out. Then it struck him, emotions bubbled into his voice,

”It’s _you._ ”

”Excuse me?” Alex moved toward Crypto. He swallowed his fear.   
  


“It’s you, Nox. You’ve had that speech prepared. You are the one framing me. You’re the spy.”

Natalie was shrinking figuratively smaller and smaller by the minute. Her mentor and her best friend blaming each other for betrayal. Tae hated doing this to her.

”What a desperate attempt to circumnavigate the conversation away from you, Tae Joon,” Caustic spat.   
  


How the fuck did he know that name?

The energy in the room immediately changed.   
  
They all knew his real name. Fuck. He took a shaky breath.

“So, uh, what should we do with the traitor,” Elliott stood in front of Tae, with his back to him, almost protectively.

  
“Nothing. There’s nothing we _can_ do,” Loba started, voice drenched with fear, “Revenant knows everything. He will come for me no matter what we do.”

She looked Tae up and down, disgusted.   
  


As she and Anita talked, he tried to regain composure, a losing battle. His heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. He just lost the only ally he had in these damn games. He didn’t even come here for them. He came here to avenge his sister’s death.   
  


Loba flung her bracelet through the window and was gone. Bangalore followed her through the door. It was just them now. Them and Elliott. He turned to Natalie,

”Nat, please,” his voice shook, he hated displaying weakness like this, “please. You know I’d never do this.”

”She won’t fall for your tricks” Alexander starts, before she can say anything. Tae crosses the room in two strides, slamming Alexander against the wall with his forearm. He was met with an expression so demeaning it made him sick.   
  
“ _My_ tricks?” He tightened his fist into Caustic’s leather jacket, pressing him harder into the wall, lip twitching with rage.

”Everyone stop!” Natalie shouted, hands over her ears, “I don’t care who did it. I just. I want to go somewhere else. Not here.”

Wraith slung an arm around Nat’s shoulders. Natalie flinched at the touch.

”I’ll take you, Nat.” She glared at Tae before she dodged through the door.   
  


When they were gone, he turned his gaze to Caustic, still unflinching beneath his forearm.

“They’ll never believe you,” he hissed, words constricted by Tae’s arm.   
  


He released him from the wall and pulled his arm back to punch him. He was met mid-air.

”Hey, kid, it isn’t worth it.”   
  


_Mirage._

Tae whirled around, snapping his arm out of Elliott’s touch. He shoved past him.

”Thank you, Elliott,” Alexander crooned.

”Didn’t do it for you.” Elliott quipped before kicking Alexander square in the ribs. He doubled over. Elliott knelt down beside him.

”If I find out you were lying, I will personally kill you, Alexander.”

Elliott bowed through the door behind Tae, leaving the doctor spitting blood on the floor, alone.

————

He wasn’t even sure where he was going. His body felt like it was on fire. He tripped, weak with nausea. Bracing himself against a rock, he vomited onto the sand. Everything hurt. Thoughts of the first time he was falsely accused flooded his vision. He was tortured for two days, before he escaped. His body lurched forward again, coughing violently. He heard the door to the compound close. He really didn’t want company.   
  


“You okay?” A soft voice penetrated his thoughts.   
  


“Do I look okay, Elliott?” He wiped the last bit of vomit from the corner of his mouth.   
  


“You look like hell.”

He managed a dry, incredulous laugh. Of course he was trying to joke right now.   
  


“Do you ever take anything fucking seriously? Huh? Have you ever taken a thing seriously in your miserable-ass life?”

Hearing his voice, he realized he was crying. Damn it. Showing emotion, especially to Elliott, was not what he wanted. He wanted to be alone. He could tell what he said hurt him. Elliott looked small, for the first time.   
  


“Sorry.” Tae carded a hand through his own hair, rolling his eyes.   
  


“‘s fine.” Elliott half-smiled, but he was chewing on the inside of his lip.

For a few minutes, the two men stood in total silence, leaning against the same rock, 6 feet apart.   
  


“It’s my sister.” Tae Joon started, turning his face away from the other man, “the Syndicate killed my sister. And they framed me. When I denied it, they took me to some black site and kicked the shit out of me for two days before I finally was able to get out of there.”   
  


Elliott didn’t say anything. Tae Joon worried that he had somehow overshared to the other man, who rarely shut up. 

”My brothers have been missing in action for years. All three of them went missing in the Frontier Wars.”   
  


Tae Joon felt his chest tighten.   
  


“I’m really sorry, Elliott—“

Elliott closed the gap between them and held Tae, tightly. At first, Tae stiffened, trying to fight against him. But then, he thought, maybe Elliott needed this as much as he did. Instead, he sank into him, wrapping his arms around his waist.

”It’s okay, Tae,” he flinched at the use of his real name, “and, I don’t think you’re the mole. I believe you.”  
  


At that, Tae heaved a sigh of relief that came across as more of a constricted sob.   
  


“Shhh,” Elliott soothed. He rubbed small circles at the base of Tae’s neck with his thumb. Elliott helped him sit down, hooking an arm around his back.

Elliott had never seen Tae show an ounce of emotion. Not that Elliott was the king of vulnerability, he only cried on his own time, in the shower, and that one time early in the games at Ajay’s place that they don’t talk about. But Tae didn’t show _any_ emotion _ever,_ so holding him while he sobbed was not something he had on his Bingo card. 

Tae hated vulnerability, but something about Elliott felt safe. Maybe it was the fact that both of their broken hearts beat for the same reason—loss. He dipped his head onto Elliott’s shoulder, and Elliott pulled him as close as he could. He kissed his hairline and Tae froze.   
  
He wasn’t expecting the twinge in his gut. He wasn’t expecting to like Elliott Witt. 

“Oh, sorry,” Elliott started, alarmed, “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I just—“   
  


“It’s fine. You didn’t. I, uh, I’m gonna head to bed.” Tae turned quickly.   
  


Elliott knew Tae wasn’t an affectionate person, but it almost seemed like he liked being kissed by him.   
  


In a moment of bravery—or utter stupidity—Elliot grabbed Tae’s elbow and pulled him back, crashing their lips together. He felt Tae’s hands splay out to the sides for a second before settling on Elliott’s neck. He didn’t pull away.   
  


When they finally separated, starry-eyed, Tae dipped his head and kissed Elliott one more time.

”I assume you know that nobody can know about this,” Tae presses his forehead to Elliott’s.

”It’ll be our little secret.”


End file.
